Follow on Twitter please: @rgroveslaw. I am the Director of the Business Law Program at Florida Coastal School of Law, which includes sports law issues. But before becoming an attorney I had a mother and father too. I was fortunate because if they gave me a penny I would owe them change. I became a tax judge and split the baby on occasion but tried most to be fair. After deciding I would rather be inspired to work harder and trust the journey than be uninspired and not work as hard, I went into private practice and became an equity partner of Howard & Howard Attorneys P.C., and counsel to Lewis & Munday, PC. I've represented multi-national corporations in multi-million dollar transactions and high profile entertainers in business and tax matters. Passion continues to be the plasma of progression as now I hope to share how good the profession can be to the new generation of counsel. So now I am a law professor, teaching business entities, securities, international business transactions, and the business side of sports. The passion includes writing. I authored a book, "Innocence in the Red Zone" regarding a client and former Michigan State head football coach Bobby Williams and several other articles regarding business, tax, and entrepreneurship. But my deepest passion - beyond family, is musical. I played piano for Magic Johnson's wedding, opened for Stevie Wonder, had a song recorded by Jerry Butler, and wrote a book about playing piano by ear with a soulful style - all eclipsed by writing songs for one's own wedding.

The NFL Official Scandal in Seattle and the One-Sided Obligation to Protect the Integrity of the Game

Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Thomas Fargo, right, and Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, Rear. Adm. Michael C. Vitale pose for a photograph with NFL officials before the 2005 NFL Pro Bowl held in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fargo performed the coin toss to start the game, which also included joint service color guards, a Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 Eagle flyover and a salute to more than 60 Purple Heart recipients. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The worst outcome of a pro football game, outside of serious harm to players, is a result determined by the officials instead of the players.

And the worst possible way to dramatize the worst result is to have those officials’ errors on display during the most dramatized game of the week -Monday Night Football. And to complete the perfect storm, have the travesty occur on a last-second Hail Mary pass that ends the game when that call decides who wins and who despairs in defeat. That is what happened this Monday when Green Bay played Seattle. Only the confluence of these particular events completes the perfect storm. There was no ambiguity to disguise the issue. Either the receiver caught the pass and Seattle wins, or it was an interception (or offensive pass interference) and Green Bay wins. The two officials who were on the spot disagreed. Then the officials collectively huddled. And they still got it wrong.

The NFL rule states that a jointly held ball is a tie that goes to the receiver as having caught the pass. A separate section of the rule, however, states that it is not a jointly held ball when the defender possesses the ball first, and the receiver thereafter attains tandem possession. Replays confirmed what millions saw on television – the defender leaped the highest among the huddled mass below, grasped and pulled the leather jewel to his bosom. Only as he left the heavens for earth did the desperate receiver named Golden Tate grab a part of the prized possession. Announcer Mike Tirico called it “the most bizarre finish you’ll ever see.” Only by virtue of that call did a bronzed receiver instantaneously become both golden and infamous and unwittingly infused into NFL error-lore.

But my gripe is not with the replacement officials or Golden Tate. They all did the best they could with what skills they have. My gripe is with those who put them in that precarious position. More to the point, my gripe is with those who put America’s game in a denigrated position.

This is at bottom a labor dispute between owners of businesses and those who labor for them. As with many labor disputes regardless of the industry, owners have to decide the value of the laborers. The more valuable, the more concessions must be made to retain them. The general sense in American history was well stated by a former general counsel of the United Mine Workers of America: “…unions can remain powerful if they either represent workers in an industry that is particular to a certain area or specialized workers who are in short supply…Otherwise, employers threaten, people get scared, and nobody wants to lose their job so they stop trying to organize.”

The NFL owners had to make a judgment call. Are the regular officials the laborers in group A with a specialized skill level that deserves more by virtue of the scarcity of that resource? Or are they group B, those with ordinary and replaceable skill who will likely recognize their ordinariness, get scared, and cave in to the owners for fear of losing their jobs?

Good judgment means someone sees the result of a course of action before it happens and makes adjustments or establishes an action to avoid the worst of circumstances. The adverse consequences to the NFL product of using replacement officials should have been viewed as predictable, perhaps even inevitable. There are thousands of calls officials must make during a 17-week season, with 16 hotly contested games each week. Each game, instantaneous calls are required without time to resort to a complicated rule book. On the job training is unacceptable. Recurring official huddles and play stoppage destroys the flow of the game.

Often bad judgments are made from bad information. So who’s expert opinions did the NFL owners rely upon to make the decision that the regulars were easily replaceable without damaging the brand. Certainly not themselves, since none as far as I can determine have been officials. Certainly not the officials they replaced. Certainly not the top college officials who refused to participate in solidarity with the replaced NFL officials.

Lost is the point that the most important plasma is the integrity of the game – the NFL “shield” as the League calls it, the brand – the product. It’s an entertainment industry. It is less entertaining if the customers (fans) do not trust the system of rule enforcement.

And the fans the NFL depends upon for profitability and success don’t like double standards. The carefully crafted 301-page collective bargaining agreement is replete with punishments for players who adversely affect the integrity of the game. For example, every player must sign the standard NFL Player Contract, Appendix A of the CBA. Section 15 states that “[The] Player recognizes the detriment to the League and professional football that would result from impairment of public confidence in the honest and orderly conduct of NFL games or the integrity of good character of NFL players.” The provision then lists various prohibited acts by players.

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